Paper short abstract:

This paper considers how spectacle should be theorized and understood as spectacles, especially sporting spectacles, are deployed throughout Latin America. It considers the importnce of scale, politics, and ideologies underpinning the production and implementation of spectacular events.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the role of national and global sport spectacles in Latin america. It lays out some theoretical concerns regarding spectacle as a political force in the first instance. It then moves on to consider how sport has been harnessed to promote national identities through athletic spectacles in various Latin American countries. It then examines the rise and implementation of global sport spectacles in Latin america. All of these concerns tie in directly to the idea of Latin American modernity and the emergence of modern nations in the Americas. I so doing, it shifts how we understand spectacle from a state-centric perspective to one of broader sociological concern that interrogates the formation of individual personhood. Thus, questions of gender, race, ethnicity, religion as well as citizenship and nationality are all deployed and employed in these spectacles. How they are portrayed and articulated becomes central to reification of power relations in that given locale.

Paper short abstract:

The “aguante” is a word than the Argentinean people use it to means: endurance or stamina. The idea of the “aguante“ as a macho matter has been spread for the national newspapers. In this presentation we will analyze the relationship between the marianismo and the concept of the “aguante”.

Paper long abstract:

The "aguante" is a word than the Argentinean people use it to means: endurance, stamina, stoicism, tolerance, etc. This word has been associated with the football sphere and local hooliganism (barras bravas). The majority of the social scientist on sport area had related the "aguante" to the machismo. The idea of the "aguante" as a macho matter has been spread for the national newspapers. This thing has been used for the "barras bravas", politicians, journalists and managers to justify the violence generated inside the football stadiums. In this presentation we will analyze, in opposition, the relationship between the marianismo (the female counterpart to machismo) and the concept of the "aguante". We will use the theoretical framework of Machismo and Marianismo in Latin America, from Evelyn Stevens to other colleagues and contributors.

The confirmation of this hypothesis could help to demonstrate than "women are morally superior to and spiritually stronger than men" and the real and right meaning of the word: "aguante". Spread this scientific information by the mass media could be a contribution for the development of the public policies on football violence.

machismo - marianismo - aguante - violence - hooligans

Paper short abstract:

The 2007 Parapanamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro helped to make the adapted sports a concrete reality for a large public in Brazil. Here, I'll discuss the expectation about the legacy from the 2016 Paralympic Games, not only for athletes but for people with disabilities in general.

Paper long abstract:

Almost all people when talking about the next sportive mega events in Brazil are referring to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Undoubtedly, these are the two most important of them, but there is another that, in each edition, is acquiring more visibility and importance: the Paralympic Games.

In this paper, I'll focus on this event, trying to show how the 2007 Parapanamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro was a decisive moment in turning the adapted sports into a concrete reality for a large public in Brazil. After that, I'll compare it with the possibility that the 2016 Paralympic Games can consolidate these advances, which is a desire present in declarations from athletes and directive members involved in this event.

To interpret these discourses, I'll use Bourdieu's contribution about the capacity of nomination and Simon's theory about the power dispute between "hetero-identity" and "auto-identity" to analyze how these events can impact other spheres with in Brazilian society. So, I'll put specific attention on following the change in the social identity of this group and its capacity to amplify its definition, passing from "lame" to "people with disabilities". One example of it can be observed in the media coverage of the last events which showed a slow, but constant, substitution of categories from "poor thing" - associated with pity - to "warriors" - associated with overcoming.

Paper Download (266 KB)

Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the discourses from Brazilian media and academy regarding Rio de Janeiro’s election to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016. It was focused on the perceptions around major stakeholders and their interests, challenges and possible legacies of Rio 2016.

Paper long abstract:

The selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016 (Rio 2016) sets a geographical and cultural expansion of the Olympic market to South and Latin America, but also a symbolic achievement for Brazil and some politicians. As would be expected, the selection brought mixed feelings and analysis from the media and academia. In this sense, we propose to look how Rio 2016 was conceived by media and academy right after its selection. As method, we used the content analysis of published news and analysis of nation-wide newspaper and magazine, and papers on the main journals of sport area. The categories of interest were the mention of (1) major stakeholders and their interests, (2) challenges and (3) possible legacies of Rio 2016. The major stakeholders cited were the Brazilian government through its former president, the Brazilian Olympic Committee and local authorities, who generally intended to increase their political capital. The challenges were mainly related to transport infrastructure and corruption, which would be also the legacy. The findings showed a clear difference among the sources, whereas opinions and political standings were more evident in the media but not absent on the academic discourse. This evidence of diversity and structural specificities of the analysed voices are discussed.